Have you ever made a paper airplane, newspaper hat or a cootie-catcher?  Then you know how to make origami!  The word origami simply means "to fold paper".  It began in China and Japan is now done all over the world.  People like to make origami animals, boxes, flowers, decorations, and special cards called "noshi" that are given with gifts.  Money, napkins and even towels can also be folded like paper!  Some origami can even be toys-birds that flap their wings and frogs that jump! 

Did you know that something so fun can be good for you?  Making origami makes your brain stronger!  It teaches you how to take a picture that is in your head and actually make it with your hands out of a piece of paper.  Its also a fun way to do math-you are using geometry (shapes, angles and lines), sequencing (steps), and fractions (measuring parts).  The great thing about origami is that you can design something that is your very own.  Origami paper comes in lots of colors and prints, from beautiful flowers to fun stars and sparkles. There are lots of designs to choose from, too, from simple "candy bags" and houses to birds and stars, even people.  You can design your own fashions for paper dolls or build up a zoo of animals. A great place to find design ideas and diagram instructions is at your local library.  Just don't get too excited and start folding book pages!

Activity Village-  a lot of fun diagrams to fold http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/origami_for_kids.htm Diagrams of animals, dolls, and cootie catchers www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/origami   Pieces and Creases- lots of origami information, click on the colored bars for diagrams and other fun stuff! http://library.thinkquest.org/5402 How to make an origami crane, also check out the story of Sadako! http://www.sadako.org/foldingcranes.htm   Oriland-you won't believe what can be made from a piece of paper! www.oriland.com   Easy origami diagrams www.origami-instructions.com/origami-for-kids.html The "perfect" paper airplane! http://www.draftsperson.net/origami/diagrams/TheGreatest_YZ.pdf How to make an origami box http://www.collectionscanada.ca/settlement/kids/021013-1812-e.html How to make an origami hawaiian shirt http://art-smart.ci.manchester.ct.us/how_to/how_to_hi_shirt.html   Star Wars Diagrams http://www.happymagpie.com/origami.html How to make an origami basket http://www.craftideas.info/html/origami_basket.html-   How to make an origami jumping frog http://www.frogsonice.com/froggy/origami/index.shtml   More  Diagrams! http://dev.origami.com/diagram.cfm Cool video of origami http://pbskids.org/buster/videos/fromyou/florian_vid.html   Great products to get you folding! more colors and patterns available on the origami paper page!